The Unexpected

Summary:
What if everything you had ever known was about to change? Love can do that kind of thing. What if the person you had planned to spend eternity with, wasn't the one? What if you met someone else who was like no one you had ever known? Jasper faces these struggles as he meets a mysterious Meg Ryder. She is like no one he has ever known before.

Notes:

1. Discovery

I walked into my last class, which was easy to find since this school was very small. The bell hadn’t rung yet so not everyone was in class. I walked over to a desk that was in the middle of the room and sat by myself. I was shy and I knew it. Just to make sure no one thought I looked bored, I idly doodled in my History folder.

I glanced up at the clock. The bell would ring in approximately two minutes. More and more people filed into the room. As they came, the room became louder. Two girls were talking behind me in hushed whispers. I listened intently. What else did I have to do?

“Is that the new girl?”

“Shhhh! Yeah. Almost all of the guys think she’s cute… I still can’t figure out why. I mean she’s not even pretty.” Well, that was quite insulting. Yet, the first part could be taken as a compliment.

“I know! Plus she’s shy.”

“And look at her hair!” They giggled quietly. Was something wrong with my hair? It looked fine in the bathroom earlier. I sighed. Maybe, they are just jealous… maybe. I doubt it. They were quite pretty. Both blondes, and everything they wore screamed designer clothes. I had no designer clothes, and I did not care at all. I mainly wore t-shirts and jeans.

Suddenly, the bell rang. I heard squeals of delight come from the two girls behind me. What now?

“Look! Jamie look! There he is! His whole family is gorgeous! I think his name is Jasper…” the girl directly behind me squealed.

“Oh. My. Gosh! He is beautiful!”

“I know! I think he likes me…”

I glanced up to see what they were both gossiping about with such fervor. Suddenly my eyes were locked with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were gold, like topaz. I forgot about everything as I stared into those eyes, unable to look away. He was pale. Very pale, paler than anyone I had ever seen. But he was beautiful. Inhumanly beautiful. His hair was a golden blond and it flowed down to his forehead. He was honestly the most beautiful young man I had ever seen in my entire life. His eyes flickered to someone behind me. Probably the two girls who had been talking about him. He walked toward me and I heard the two girls behind me quickly move around. I blushed and looked away. He probably already thinks I’m a freak.

“May I sit here?” A voice like velvet asked me. I looked up. Big mistake. I lost all thought process.

“Erm… yeah… of course!” I stammered. He smiled and with a gracefulness such as I have never seen before, sat down in the seat next to me. I heard annoyed sighs from the two girls seated behind me.

It’s odd, but I had never really cared much about my hair and things like that, but now, sitting next to someone as beautiful as Jasper, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be in his presence. I was not pretty enough. As that thought dawned on me, I looked back down at my History notebook. I felt rejected, which was odd. I had never felt this way before. Why now?

“My name is Jasper Hale. Nice to meet you,” Jasper said in the most lovely voice that I had ever heard. I couldn’t help but look up again.

“Nice to meet you too. My name is Meg Ryder,” I murmured quietly.

“Can she even make a conversation?” The girl behind me asked her friend quietly. I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly opened them and stared only at my folder.

“Definitely not,” the other girl murmured in agreement. Could Jasper hear what they were saying too? If I could, he probably could, right? Right.

I sighed quietly. Should I just leave now? No, I can’t miss any classes on my first day of school! That wouldn’t be smart… but would it be better? How much longer can I take this for?

For no reason whatsoever, I felt calm. Just out of the blue. I couldn’t help but look around the room. I’m not sure what I was looking for, but I looked. When my gaze had analyzed the room thoroughly, I quickly snuck a glanced at Jasper. He smiled, but his eyes were tightened just a little. He was being wary… Why? Was I that horrible to have to sit with? Rejection flowed through me strongly now. None of the calm that had been so effective earlier remained.

Again, I saw Jasper stiffen. My hair fell between us, blocking my vision of him, and forming a curtain between us. I’m not good enough anyway. I could never be pretty enough to deserve him. Not ever. Not in a million years. I rested my head on my arms, my hair splayed out before me. I absently stared at the tips of my hair.

Apparently, the girls hate me. I’m not pretty enough for them either. What ever happened to the saying, ‘it’s the inside that counts’? I guess no one cares who you really are, just how you look. How sad…

Did I need glasses? The tips of my hair were slowly turning from a dark brown to a… grayish blue? Huh? I blinked a few times to make sure I was really seeing this. I straightened up and took the tips of my hair in my hands to be able to analyze them more closely.

“At least she has the decency to sit straight,” the girl behind me muttered. I couldn’t take it any more. Anger erupted inside me, which was quite unlike me. I rarely ever got angry. Her last comment, though, had set me off. Like lava erupting from a volcano, boiling over the top. I watched in horrified silence as the tips of my hair turned a bright red.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of eyes watching me. Instinctively, I turned to my right, and met the intent gaze of Jasper Hale. My eyes were still widened in shock and fury. I couldn’t seem to change my expression. Jasper’s gaze moved from my eyes to my hair, which was being held in my hand. I saw his eyes widen in shock.

I looked back at my hair, to see that the red color was slowly making its’ way up to the top of my head. I gasped. What do I do? What do I do, I thought frantically. I quickly scooped my books up in my arms and ran out of the room. Hopefully no one would notice my hair changing colors. I felt Jaspers’ gaze on me like a laser. I didn’t care, though. I had to get home and figure out what was wrong with me.

As I ran through the halls to my locker, I saw something sticking out of it. As I got closer, I noticed it was a hat. It was taped to my locker. Why? Who cares, there’s no time to wonder about things like this at the moment! I mentally thanked who ever had taped the hat to my locker, and shoved my hair inside the hat. Looks didn’t matter to me any more than they had 10 minutes ago. I got my backpack, shoved my books in them, and quickly ran outside the building to my car. I sighed in relief as I reached the safety of my car. I had made it. Suddenly, nervousness erupted and became my number one emotion. What was wrong with me? I thought as I quickly drove home. I watched in utter and helpless horror as my hair, once again, started to change colors.

A faint purple this time. I gently pushed down harder on the gas pedal, and sped home. It started to rain just as I pulled onto my road. Fitting, I thought nervously. I loved it when it rained, but I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to figure out what was happening to me right now.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Jasper’s Point of View

Why on earth did Carlisle make us go to high school again? I knew why, of course, but I didn’t know how many more times I could take it. After all, I knew more than any of the teachers here. Living long and having repeated chances to go to colleges came in handy sometimes.

I made my way to my last class. The bell rang as I entered the room. Right on time, I thought absently. I quickly scanned the room. Where should I sit? One girl held my attention, which had never happened before. She was staring down at her folder. Just staring. But I could tell that she was listening to someone, but whom? And then I heard them…

“Look! Jamie look! There he is! His whole family is gorgeous! I think his name is Jasper…” the girl, directly behind the girl who had captured my attention, squealed.

“Oh. My. Gosh! He is beautiful!”

“I know! I think he likes me…” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Not in a million years, I thought exasperatedly. Humans were always the same. You always knew what they were going to do. They were predictable. Boring.

And then, the mysterious girl looked up at me. I couldn’t look away. She was pretty, even for a human. Her eyes looked brown, but if you really stared into them, they looked like a honey color. I had never seen eyes like that before. She had dark brown hair that came down to her shoulders.

I was overwhelmed, for a moment. The jealousy coming from the two girls behind her was incredible. I glanced at them, and they stared at me with wide eyes. Of course they were jealous vampires were beautiful. But really, did humans all react the same? The brown haired girl did not. Of that I was certain. How was I certain? I didn’t know. I just had a feeling that she was different. I walked over to her. She was sitting all alone.

“May I sit here?” I asked her politely. She looked up. Her eyes had a depth to them that I was not used to seeing in most humans. What would Alice think? I groaned so quietly that no human would be able to hear me.

“Erm… yeah… of course!” She stammered out. Then she blushed and looked down. Why did she blush? She wasn’t embarrassed… too bad Edward wasn’t here. I would give anything to know what she was thinking. I sat down next to her. What now? What do I say?

“My name is Jasper Hale. Nice to meet you.” A bit dull, but at the moment I couldn’t think straight. She clogged all other thoughts.

“Nice to meet you too. My name is Meg Ryder,” she murmured quietly. She was shy. That much was obvious.

“Can she even make a conversation?” The girl behind her asked her friend quietly. I noticed Meg squeeze her eyes shut and I watched her as she slowly opened them and stared only at her folder.

“I guess not…”

“She’s not pretty enough to sit next to him.” At this, I stiffened. Those girls were cruel, mean and rude. I felt rejection come off of Meg so strongly it nearly suffocated me. She couldn’t honesty believe them, could she? I hope not.

“Definitely not,” the other girl murmured in agreement.

I couldn’t take her rejection anymore. It was too strong. I quickly sent a wave of calm over to her. It replaced the rejection almost immediately. Although, she did something that I did not expect. Her head whirred around the room. Then her gaze rested on me, her eyes full of curiosity. Did she know that I did that? I smiled warily at her. She couldn’t know that. No. I dismissed this silly thought immediately. But, maybe she could. No other human had ever had the reaction she just had when I used my talent on him or her. No one. I quickly stopped the calm waves flowing from me. I couldn’t risk it. Her rejection replaced them instantly. I did my best to ignore her strong emotion. My attempts didn’t help much at all.

Meg laid her head down on her arms staring absently at… her hair. I couldn’t stand to see her like this. It made me sad. What was happening to me? After what seemed like an eternity, she straightened up again. I was glad. She looked a little better.

“At least she has the decency to sit straight,” the girl behind me muttered. I went rigid as I fought the desire to growl. It took all my self-control to suppress it.

I looked at Meg again. She was interesting to watch. Her emotions said that she was… angry. Her anger was so strong. It was overpowering. It was inescapable. How could none of these people feel it? It felt like I was going to burn to pieces if she so much as looked at me. Finally, I realized that she was staring at her hair. I looked too. Once I did, I couldn’t look away.

Her emotion changed from a burning anger to horror. I watched in shocked silence as I saw her hair change from dark brown to red. How is that happening? Obviously she isn’t doing it on purpose. Her emotions and her expressions support that statement. But then how? How is that happening? Her face slowly turned to look at mine, her eyes wide with shock and horror. I wanted to comfort her so badly, I had to ball my hands up into fists so that I didn’t reach out to wrap my arms around her.

Her hair continued to turn red. She looked back down at her hair and I heard her gasp. What was happening to her? In a moment she grabbed her books and ran out of the room. I wanted so badly to run after her, but I couldn’t. I would go visit her at night. Like Edward used to do when Bella was human. But first, I would ask Carlisle about it. Maybe he would know.